Sunday, January 29, 2012

Glenn Close has the title role in the film version of Albert Nobbs and her upstairs and downstairs aren't quite what they seem. She's a 19th century woman passing as a man. After years of keeping up the charade as a male waiter, a new visitor and a new love turn Albert's world topsy turvy.
I rarely relax and enjoy stories likeBoys Don't Cry or The Crying Game where one of the leads is blindsided in a doomed romance. That's a bit true here, but what surprised me is that I kept guessing how the story was going to unfold. This is a tightly edited production which served this simple story very well.

Yeah, the beers must have been very strong in Dublin for Close and Janet McTeer's characters to pass as men, but I enjoyed their perfomances anyway. I even laughed a few times. I don't know many people who are going to absolutely love Albert Nobbs, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Simply put:I thought this was going to be a drag, but it's a surprising little film

Award potential: Oscar nominee Close has an amazing performance in a role she played on stage 30 years ago. Janet McTeer, in a louder role, is deserving of a nomination too. But neither really convince you that they could pull off life in Ireland as a man, so look for other actors to win on Oscar night. Sinead O' Connor's haunting "Lay Your Head Down" was robbed of a song nomination.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Many of the most memorable film biopics find one small moment in the span of the character's grand life and use that crucial point to tell the viewers everything. In the brilliant The Queen (2006), the film revolved around the sequence of events following Princess Diana's death, yet we learn tons about Queen Elizabeth II. In The King's Speech, the action centered around preparation for an important speech. In Frost/Nixon (2008), the story was simply about a television interview.

But like the films J. Edgar( 2011) and Nixon (1995), The Iron Lady tries to tell us about the character's personal and professional life from childhood through old age. Flashbacks! Prosthetics! Speculation on her life today! All these distracting details make for an unfocused film with no point of view.

There is a brief moment involving the decisions around the Falklands War that showed a glimmer of what a good Margaret Thatcher movie would be.Despite an astounding performance from Meryl Streep, Thatcher deserved a better film.

Simply put: Too much of the film focuses on an old woman who can't quite remember who she used to be. And this movie is not so sure either

Award potential: Oscar nomination and possible win for Streep. Jim Broadbent has done this type of role well too many times to get noticed here. The picture and screenplay should be shut out as well.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Roman Polanski’s Carnage is a clever play centered on the polite and not-so-polite parental differences of two couples. Oops, did I say play? I meant to say it’s a movie.

Viewers are trapped in a room with the perfectly cast couples (Jodie Foster & John C. Reilly and Kate Winslet & Christoph Waltz) as they sort things out. All the engaging, biting dialogue is suited for the stage but just not authentic enough for cinema. In a movie, the reality is heightened so one can’t believe that these parents would actually hang out long enough for all the drama that unfolds.

Simply put: A well-casted, claustrophobic play. I mean, movie.

Award potential: The cast was nominated for Golden Globes and other awards. But I don’t think the Oscars will come knocking at the door.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Predicting what 90 random Hollywood Foreign Press members picked is a daunting task. Yes, I have an 84.5% accuracy with the Oscar nominations, and 82% on the Oscar winners, but the Golden Globes are just kooky.

Here's what's gonna happen:

Best Actor (Drama)

George Clooney (The Descendants)

Clooney's best work and this group loves him. Don't count out Pitt for Oscar though.

Best Actress (Drama)

Viola Davis (The Help)

A close one. Meryl as Thatcher is Globe-bait, but this is Viola's year.

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo (The Artist)

I predict an upset here since The Help won't translate as well with this group.

Octavia Spencer is your Oscar winner.

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)

Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

She's brilliant as Marilyn but less funny that anyone in the drama The Help. But Michelle does sing two songs and Marion Cotillard won in this category for the more serious La Vie En Rose.

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)

Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Don't be surprised if Ryan Gosling pulls an upset.

Best Animated Feature Film

Rango

Best Foreign Language Film

A Separation

Best Screenplay

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Best Song

Madonna, Masterpiece

So begins the 2012 onslaught of Madonna.

Best Director

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

This looks to be the year of celebrating classic-Hollywood from The Artist to Scorsese's Hugo.

Best Motion Picture (Drama)

Hugo

The Descendants is the safe pick to take to Vegas, but Globes are known for choosing splashy films like Avatar and Aviator, so this is my wild pick.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

In a year that Hugo and My Week with Marilyn already explored film's love of film, we get one more story about Hollywood. But The Artist is a magnificent throwback, a black-and-white silent movie made with loving detail to the technical style of 1920’s films.While this is a delightfully old fashioned homage to Hollywoodland, it’s also a timeless romance with a wink of modern self-awareness.

The end of silent film and the dawn of the talkies has been told onscreen before with “Singing in the Rain”, but there is an ironic freshness that comes from giving this story the silent-film treatment.

George Valentin (Jean Dujardin channeling Gene Kelly no less), is a silent film superstar who’s at the top of his game as times are changing. Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), is the new star that is born. Their onscreen courtship is pure movie magic.

By skipping dialog to reveal the story in other ways, the film stirs our senses. For me, this resulted in a unique enchantment that you don’t often get from modern film. I expect that even the most cautious ticket-buyer will agree.

Award potential: Best Picture nomination and a likely win. Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo dazzle; and both will be rewarded with nominations (actor, supporting actress).Cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman will be remembered and likely rewarded.As will the score by Ludovic Bource.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

I enjoyed the look and feel and the perfectly modulated performances of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. A Cold War thriller that's a captivating cerebral puzzle doesn't come along very often. I watched the film assuming that all the confusing allusions and connections that I couldn’t follow would reveal themselves in the final act. Turns out, I would make a terrible spy. When the answer to “Who is the mole?” was revealed, I realized the tricky plot was just too incomprehensible for either me or a viewer unfamiliar with the original BBC miniseries or novel.

Surprisingly, the better Cold War spy movie this season is a blockbuster sequel complete with thrilling foot chases and heightened action scenes — starring one of my least favorite actors. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocal takes Tom Cruise and the music from the past MI show and films and ignites the franchise.

Ghost Protocal is fast and explosive but it’s also a clever, slight-of-hand thriller. And by the time Cruise makes his way across the surface of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest skyscraper, you realize you hopped on to one of the best movie rides of the year.

Award potential: TTSS is considered a frontrunner for Best Picture. In a year where a film must take multiple voter’s #1 pick to get a nomination, I don’t think so. Gary Oldman has a good shot at supporting actor. Tom Hardy increases his star potential but is an unlikely nominee.No major awards for Mission Impossible.